Midtown's Walmart discount store is among four Milwaukee-area stores, and 269 stores globally, that the retailer is closing. The last day for the 161,000-square-foot store at 5825 W. Hope Ave. is Jan. 28.

It becomes the second Midtown anchor to close. A Lowe's home improvement store at 5800 W. Hope Ave. shut down in 2009 as part of that chain's nationwide contraction. That leaves a Pick 'n Save supermarket as the center's largest retailer.

The 408,500-square-foot Midtown is owned by an affiliate of Tarrytown, N.Y.-based DLC Management Corp., which bought the property in 2014 for $47.2 million. It covers 44 acres bordered mainly by W. Capitol Drive, W. Fond du Lac Ave. and N. 60th St., and includes the separately owned 135,000-square-foot former Lowe's building.

Walmart's closing will reduce Midtown's occupancy rate from 86% to 46%, according to space figures compiled from DLC Management's website. Including the Lowe's-owned building, the occupancy rate drops from 64% to 35%.

Midtown opened in 2002, replacing the former Capitol Court mall. The city helped finance it with $7.7 million through a tax incremental financing district.

By 2013, Midtown's property taxes paid off that debt, and the financing district had a $2.3 million surplus.

Instead of closing the financing district and shifting Midtown's property taxes to the city, Milwaukee Public Schools and other local governments, the Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett created a $3.5 million fund to help attract new businesses to Midtown.

City funds helped pay for renovations to attract a 25,000-square-foot Planet Fitness and a 5,900-square-foot Rue 21 clothing store. Both opened in 2015.

Ald. Joe Davis, whose district includes Midtown, said Department of City Development officials were irresponsible for not offering city cash to try to retain Walmart.

Walmart did not seek city help before its Jan. 15 store closing announcement, said Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux and Delia Garcia, Walmart's director of communications.

The retailer is closing the stores after a review of their financial performance and how they fit with the company's plans, Garcia said. She declined to elaborate, but the company's new store plans are focusing on Walmart Supercenters, which are combined supermarket-discount stores, and Walmart Neighborhood Markets, a smaller supermarket format.

Meanwhile, there is a new proposal to redevelop the former Lowe's building, said Davis, a mayoral candidate. He declined to provide more information. The property's leasing agent, Dan Rosenfeld, of Mid-America Real Estate Group, didn't respond to requests for information.

Davis last year announced plans to convert the former Lowe's into an entertainment center that would include cinemas, a bowling center, an arcade and restaurants.

Davis said the potential developer, whom he declined to name, dropped the proposal after Department of City Development officials "didn't follow up."

Department officials did follow up on that plan, Marcoux said.

"But we can't make deals work if the developer doesn't follow up or the financials don't work," he said.

Along with Planet Fitness and Rue 21, Midtown has had some good news over the past year.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in December announced it will open a new clinic within a 20,900-square-foot former Office Depot store, at 5433 W. Fond du Lac Ave., this summer.